Archive for the ‘Just For Fun’ Category

Thank you to all of our patients who took part in our Patient Appreciation Day. We had a fun day full of food and raffles as well as former and current patients stopping by to say hello, eat some delicious snacks and ask our Physical Therapists anything and everything about vestibular and orthopedic issues.

Congrats to one of our grand prize raffle winners, Mike C., pictured below with LifeStyle’s fearless leader, Michele. Mike C. went home with a large gift basket full of delicious goodies, just in time to share with friends and family at Thanksgiving!

Although our blog is usually about vestibular disorders, we want to give a special shout out to our Chicago 2009 Marathoners. We have a number of runners we work with through the Imerman Angels, the Chicago Tri Club and the National Runaway Marathon Teams who will be running the 2009 Chicago Marathon this Sunday, October 11th.

On October 29, 1916, an article was published in the NY Times that states that from the research and works of several individuals, it has been verified that vertigo (or seasickness as they call it) results from an imbalance in the inner ear. In the article it states that vertigo was often thought of as an intestinal or digestive disorder brought upon by indigestion or stomachaches.

In 1900, the relationship between vertigo and the inner ear was first established and many tests ensued. In one experiment, animals were rocked on a moving floor that simulated a rolling sea and it resulted in the animals getting seasick. The head researcher, Kreidl, then severed the eighth nerve (the acoustic/auditory nerve). The same experiment was then conducted on the moving floor and the animals did not get sick.

1916 was the beginning of the acknowledgement that vertigo was the distinct result of the “disturbance of the vestibular apparatus”. A lot of things were proven in the years leading up to 1916, such as champagne giving relief to vertigo symptoms (see last paragraph of the article) and the causes of vertigo “no longer be[ing] regarded as vague or mysterious”.